by Candace Lynn
Looking for a fictional villain you’ll love to hate? How about a whole raft of bad guys?
Yes? Then I suggest Griffin Mordecai. One of the top rogues of my high fantasy series, Stoneslayer. It’s packed with human and non-human bad guys.
Griffin is mean, petty, vicious, and spiteful with a mountain-size chip on his shoulder. And he acts accordingly, stirring up all manner of mischief and driving the plot in various ways.
You may even know someone like him in real life. I, alas, knew Griffin in “real life” because Stoneslayer is based on four of my past lives, and the past lives of family and friends.
Griffin was the second cousin (father’s side) of first-generation heroine Helen Andros (me in a past life). Griffin despises her because she is not of “pure” blood, whatever that means.
And he hates Helen’s newfound father with a passion even though the man spared his life when the laws of Azgard would have allowed him to put Griffin to death.
Big mistake.
Writing the series, at times I really want to smack Griffin on the side of his head and say, “You have so much! What is your problem?”
Maybe I should just smack the side of my head instead.
That’s the thing about my characters, the villains in particular. They don’t give a rat’s behind about what I think. They’re going to do what they want to do. They have a life of their own. I am merely their author.
They tell me where to go, sometimes not terribly politely. And I argue right back. They drive me up a wall. But I love them, even the vilest among them, even when they make me crazy sometimes. Oh. All right. Crazier.
There is a debate among writers about where the storytelling process takes off. One camp says it begins with an idea, like terrorists take the White House and hold the president hostage.
The other side argues it starts with characters. As in, a teen girl who finds out she has major past-life roles in the cruelties of her society’s overclass and feels utterly compelled to set things right. All by herself, even though she is no superhero.
Put me firmly in the that latter camp. Stories that start with an idea tend to spawn characters with no depth, no arc of self-discovery and growth. This is painfully obvious in way too many films.
I did not consciously decide to begin with characters. They chose me, or at least it seemed that way. Like so many writers of my generation, I read J.R.R. Tolkien and was profoundly inspired. I rather imagine J.K. Rowling has filled the same role for today’s cohort of budding scribes.
But I didn’t want to write more elves-dragons-swords fantasy. Now, there’s nothing wrong with the aforesaid. I’ve read plenty of terrific works in the Tolkien-like vein. But I wanted to do something different.
I need not have worried. Around when I was 13, characters like Griffin started invading my daydreams. They most decidedly weren’t elves or dwarves or dragons or knights in shining armor. They were human beings. I had no idea who they were then, but I could see them and hear speak them in my mind. Vividly. Clearly.
I literally spent decades and lots of thought time getting to know them. They entranced and unnerved me. I was standing in a checkout line at a Safeway and reached for a baby name book sitting on the impulse purchase rack. I opened it to the G section and saw the name Griffin. That’s me, he said. I heard it in my head. I quickly closed the book and put it back.
My characters continue to drive me bonkers but I cannot get them out of my mind unless and until I start writing.
Candace Lynn Talmadge is an author, storyhealer, and paranormalist. Get a free excerpt from Stoneslayer Book One Scandal when you sign up for her free author newsletter on her Substack channel, Wider Realities.
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